According to Shoigu, the drills proved the high level of qualification of the Eastern Military District troops and their capability to ensure military security in Russia's Far East

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry checked readiness of army special forces units for immediate actions in the areas of possible crises, including the Arctic region and the Far North, during a strategic command and staff exercise code-named Vostok 2014 (East 2014), Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.

The exercises had several aims. One of them was to study the possibilities of the Russian Armed Forces’ infrastructure to redeploy troops from remote areas of the country when new armament, military and special equipment are supplied, Shoigu said.

“Another goal is to check the efficiency of control system, primarily its maritime components,” he added.

In addition to the positive tendencies, the Vostok 2014 maneuvers revealed several problems that the defense ministry would work on, he said.

“The remoteness and restrictive possibilities of the areas where the exercises are conducted dictate the need to accumulate logistic stocks and develop the military infrastructure in the Eastern region,” Shoigu said.

“Air defense is required to be reinforced based on supplies of advanced air defense missile systems and fighters. Changes should be made in mobilisation training of the Russian Armed Forces and in organizing inter-departmental interaction on mobilisation issues in the Russian Federation,” he said.

“I want to note that thanks to qualitative information the exercises caused public resentment in Russian and foreign media and became one of the key events in the Asia Pacific region in 2014,” Shoigu said.

According to Shoigu, the drills proved the high level of qualification of the Eastern Military District troops and their capability to ensure military security of the Russian Federation in the country’s Far East.